Greedy Granny Game Review

This week was games night at Lara's Beaver scout colony. All of the children had to bring their favourite game to share with others - Lara brought along Greedy Granny and it was a total hit with all of the Beavers. Everyone wanted to have a go, and there were lots of giggles as I could hear them playing with the game from the other side of the hall.

Greedy Granny from Tomy is a challenge to grab one of each biscuit from sleeping Granny's tray as she sleeps. If you happen to be the person who wakes Granny up then the game is over and the person with the most biscuits wins!  The game is suitable for three players from about age 4 upwards.

The game is controlled by a spinner which determines whether you can pick a biscuit, put one back on the tray, miss a turn, or steal someone else's biscuit.  The spinner also determines how many times you have to tap Granny's armchair and it it this tap that may cause Granny to wake up.

The absolute biggest pull of this game for 6-8 year olds is the fact that when Granny wakes up, her false teeth fall out. This seems to cause hilarity EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!  I think Lara also secretly enjoys putting all of the plastic biscuits back into the tray every time...it requires some precision.  My only complaint about the game is that once Granny and her chair have been constructed, it is hard to get her back into the box to store away.

You can find Greedy Granny at Smyths Toys, Argos and Amazon for around £15. Find out more about the Greedy Granny game in this video.

  

Bop It! Review

Bop It! is a new take on a classic family game and the whole of the mellow household has been bitten by the bug - it's addictive!

Bop It! by Hasbro is a hand-held game that can be played alone, or as a group. The Bop It! shouts instructions at you which you have to follow - miss an instruction and the game ends. It is a very simple challenge that gets you coming back time after time to try and beat your own high score. The classic game asks you to Twist-it, Pull-it and Bop It! but the brand new edition of Bop It! features even more fun instructions that have brought it bang up to date.

The new edition of Bop It! features all the classic instructions plus lots of new ones - in the "action" mode the Bop It! will now ask you to Hammer-It, Saw-It, Comb-It, Golf-It, Cradle-It, Whip-It, Drink-It, Golf-It, Answer-It and Selfie-It!  The Bop-It senses your movement of the device and will make sound effects to match your movement!  The better you get at the game, the faster the Bop It starts to issue you commands!  If you miss an instruction, the Bop It! will make a sarcastic statement about your ability to follow instruction, or perform a motion.

We have all found that it took a few hours of practice to master the movements that the Bop-It expects for each of the different actions.  This put Lara off for a while as she didn't like the feeling of failure but we showed her how Mummy and Daddy do each motion and she has now been tempted back to give the Bop-It another go - she LOVES the classic mode though!

If you're really up for a challenge you can play Bop-It without the verbal instructions. In beat-box mode you simply have to listen to the music and the sound effects and interpret which action to perform - it's phenomenally hard!!!

We've enjoyed playing Bop-It in the garden, in the living room, even just one quick game before bed (in an attempt to beat that high score) but I also think it would be a fun game to play with friends, either children, or adults. In pass-it mode the Bop It! will randomly instruct you to pass the game to the next person for them to follow the next set of instructions - nobody wants to be the person who breaks the chain and misses an action!

We've all enjoyed playing Bop It! - even Holly likes to give it a go.  Look out for the new look Bop-It! with 10 different actions coming to a store near you soon!

Orchard Toys Mini Games - Build a Beetle

This weekend the girls went for a sleepover withe Grandma and Grandpa - they were incredibly excited about it and spent much of the afternoon packing and prepping for their adventure.  The girls each packed an overnight bag with one cuddly toy but they also wanted to take a book to read and a game to play; mini games from Orchard Toys are the perfect type of game to pack when travelling away from home because they are so compact and are suitable for family members of all ages.

Build a Beetle is a mini game from Orchard Toys in which you take it in turns to spin a number - for each unique number you spin, you get to choose another body part for your beetle.  Once you've collected all six body parts your beetle is complete.  It is a fun game for Holly who is proud when she recognises her numbers correctly but is is also fun for all of us because of the element of chance - your beetle's completeness is governed by the spinner.

Each beetle has a fun friendly face and a totally different costume.  The parts are identified by colour.

The box for Build a Beetle is so small that it could fit into the front pocket of Holly's rucksack which she took as an overnight bag. For a week's holiday you could take a few mini games with you and not have to worry about filling up your suitcases.  In the mini games range you'll also find dominoes, snap, lotto, snakes and ladders and matching pairs all suitable for upto 4 players; they each cost £4.99.